Irish Trip
by DancingStar01
Summary: A mysterious UFO sighting leads the team to Ireland.


Title: Irish Trip  
Author: Dancing Star  
Pair Ring: Doyle / Donner  
Rating: 12  
Spoiler: None  
Synopsis: A mysterious UFO sighting leads the team to Ireland.  
Comments: This is already my seventh PSI Factor fan fiction and there are even some readers from Germany *yipee* (now I would advertise again, but thank Google, I haven´t. Finally you can find everything there. ...). I'm sorry by the way: I LOVE horses and everything that has to do with them. Ireland and Connemara ponies belong together for me :-)  
Enjoy this fan fiction, and let me know if you liked it. 

**Irish Trip **

Saundra Gallagher was a happy, almost normal girl: She went to kindergarten and argued with her twin brother almost every day for the toys. She hated the vegetables in her dinner and was sometimes mean to her parents.  
As each night Alice Gallagher brought her daughter to bed, read her a story and wished her good night. Saundra was lying in her bed and listened to the sounds of the night. Her cat lay on the blanket and purring softly. The full moon lit up her room.  
Suddenly a dark, black shadow appeared at the window, she heard a low hum. The shadow gave way to a red flashing light and she knew what that meant. Terrified, she closed her eyes. She knew what was coming now and she hardly dared to look. The buzzing grew louder and then she opened her eyes just a little. Red flashes lit up the room. Another low buzzing circled around her head, followed by two bright balls of light. Her eyelids grew heavy and she felt a bitter taste in her mouth. She fell asleep.  
These nocturnal visitations made Saundra Gallagher different than other five year old children as her brother Shawn. For three months, Saundra was visited by "them" every night. They analyzed her and took her to their ship and took her back until the next morning. Saundra was hoping her mother would believe her, but Alice didn´t. Her father believed his daughter's and finally it was David Gallagher, who decided Saundra needed help urgently.

"Are you Lindsay Donner?", asked a man in a suit, as Lindsay opened her apartment door. Next to the man was a little blonde girl with a backpack and a suitcase in her hand. She clutched a stuffed rabbit and her eyes were tearful.  
"Yes. I am."  
"Max Eisenberg. I'm here for Olive."  
"Olive?", asked Lindsay and saw how the girl rushed in her apartment and ran away. She ran into the room, which was on the other side of the living room.  
"Your cousin´s daughter," said the lawyer, "you have to take care of the child. Your cousin died last night. You are her last living relative, so you have to take care of her. This is laid down in her last will."  
Lindsay did not know how it all happened. Suddenly, everything happened so quickly. She could not take care of a child! She had previously seen Olive only in photographs and once when she was a baby, at the Family´s Christmas party.  
"What about Olive's father?", she asked.  
"To him, your cousin had no contact since pregnancy. In her testament is not listed how his name is", said Mr. Eisenberg, "Your cousin had a boyfriend but because they were not married, this clause in the last will is not important for him."  
"But ..." she wanted to disagree, but in that moment the phone rang. Mr. Eisenberg wished her good evening, went and Lindsay had to answer the phone. The caller was Connor Doyle and he told her that they had a new case.  
"We are sent to Ireland?", Lindsay did not know what to say. She had just received the guardianship of a child and had no idea how she should balance between that and her job. "Why so far away?", she asked.  
"An UFO has been sighted there."  
Lindsay did not like it at all. But thank god Olive hadn´t to go to school. She told Connor, why she wasn´t impressed by this Ireland trip and told him that her cousin had died. Now she should take care of her cousin´s daughter and she could not leave the child alone here. She was grateful when Connor proposed to take Olive to Ireland, too. Lindsay agreed and after the phone conversation ended, she went into her bedroom, where Olive was lying on the bed and sobbed quietly.  
"Hey, Olive," she sat down next to her, "Have you ever been to Ireland?" Lindsay watched Olive sat up and blew her nose. "No," she said.  
"Would you like to fly with me?"  
"No. I want to stay here ..."  
"Listen, you have to. That's my job. Take it as a trip and be good, okay?" With these words Lindsay got up. She wanted to give Olive a moment before she began to pack her own clothes for the trip. They would leave tomorrow morning.

Cool air greeted Lindsay as the van in which they came parked in front of a slightly run-down house. From here they had a perfect view on the area. She sucked the air as deep as she could into her lungs and Connor looked at her for a moment. She moved the zipper of her brown fleece jacket. It was late summer, but it was too cold for this time of the year. Gray, heavy clouds hung in the sky. So it looked like rain.  
"My parents were Irish. They both came from Galway. Did you know?", she asked.  
"No," Connor was honest.  
"They migrated to Canada a few years before I was born."  
"Then that's something like a home game for you ..."  
"No, I've never been here ..." It was a beautiful area in the interior of Ireland, so they unfortunately wouldn´t see the famous Irish cliffs and the sea.  
"There is a lake behind the house," Connor said to her and she wondered if he had read her thoughts. Then he helped Olive out of the car, while the mobile laboratory was parked at the other end of the court. Immediately a man came out of the house. This had to be the owner of this house and the father of the victim. They were informed in advance about the Gallagher family. David Gallagher earned his money as a fisherman on the lake, which was behind the house. That was unusual for Ireland, Peter said on the plane. His prejudice was that all Irishmen earned her living as a sheep farmer and if they had emigrated in America, they all worked in New York City at the police.  
"David Gallagher is my name", the man pulled his cap and shook their hands.  
"Connor Doyle, OSIR."  
"Thank you for coming so quickly," said David, "My brother Jon provides his shacks."  
"His shacks?", Anton asked.  
"Yes, Sir. I can imagine it is pretty constricting in your truck. My brother has rebuilt some houses. They are a popular accommodation for tourists in summer, but this light phenomena had chased away all the guests. Come, I take you there." David went ahead and the team followed him. Everybody, except for Olive.  
"Hey, Olive. What´s wrong? Why don´t you come?", asked Lindsay and came to the little girl. OIive looked at her. "My bag is so heavy," she complained, "I cannot carry it alone."  
"Then give me your bag."  
"No." Olive looked still at her with a fixed gaze.  
Lindsay turned around and left. After the hour-long flight, she didn´t want to argue with a stubborn five year old girl who thought that she hat to boycott the trip.  
"But my bag," now Olive wailed. Internally Lindsay wished the stupid bag to the devil. And Olive. She liked children very much, but Olive made it not easy for her. She let Lindsay feel she was not happy with her. She could not help it! She wasn´t even asked if she could care for a child.  
"May I help somehow?", asked Connor. He had already cleaned up his things and wondered why Lindsay and OIive were still here.  
"Her bag is so heavy, but she doesn´t want me to help," said Lindsay and Connor asked the girl if this was true. Olive nodded.  
"If that's true, then Olive has to stay here with her bag", Connor said suddenly.  
"Even at night?" , Olive shrieked.  
"Especially at night. If it is dark and cold outside, you can listen to the songs of the sea monster ... It's just a legend, but in all stories is something true."  
Now Olive accepted Lindsay´s help and let her carry the bag to the shack, in which they both should live. Lindsay left Olive the bed, she slept on the couch. At the door David handed her a key and he had probably noticed how unruly Olive was.  
"How old is your daughter?", he asked.  
"Oh, she's my niece ... She is five years old."  
"I have twins in the same age. Shawn and Saundra. Perhaps the three can do something together once."  
"Yes, that would be nice, so I can concentrate on my work. Thank you."

The team had unpacked and before the end of the day they would meet for dinner in the main house and Lindsay asked her niece, if she wanted to come along: "Hey, OIive. Would you like to eat something?"  
"No!" Even here in Ireland Olive only lay in bed, staring at the wall. She had just lost her mother, but...  
"The Gallagher-twins are there, too..." Lindsay sat down beside her on the bed.  
"So what? I don´t like Saundra and Shawn..."  
"Then stay here. Good night, Olive", she said and Olive didn´t response. Lindsay didn´t want to argue with her. Olive should do whatever she wanted.  
So, Lindsay went alone to the main house where the rest of the team was already waiting for her. Anton asked about Olive and Lindsay told him she was probably not hungry.  
Alice Gallagher wanted to take care of the team´s welfare. "Although I don´t believe my husband and Saundra", she added with a smile.  
The dinner was very pleasant and the Gallagher twins seemed to be very nice. Lindsay had no idea why Olive did not want to play with them.  
"I analyzed Saundra," Anton said after leaving the main house and when they were on their way to the shacks where they slept, "She had geometrically arranged needle pricks on the neck, arms and legs and as I ended the investigation and wanted to take some photos the needle pricks disappeared."  
"I have already questioned the neighbors," said Peter, "None of them had seen strange lights." It didn´t surprise him, however. Finally, David Gallagher had not seen the lights, too, and he believed his daughter.  
"We´ll have cameras", on a ground plan Connor had already marked the places where he wanted to have a surveillance camera. Inside and outside.  
"But first let´s rest from jet-lag. See you tomorrow." They separated and Lindsay arrived at her cottage. Lindsay first looked after OIive. Even in sleep, she looked sad.

As planned, next day cameras were placed on the landed property and Connor checked the cameras every day. After one week he noticed that Olive was sitting on the stairs to the main house every day and watched him. He also noted how sad Olive looked. If someone Olive asked a question she didn´t answer and she kept staring straight ahead. He felt sorry for the little girl and he had an idea how he could cheer her up a bit. So he decided that someone else should take care of the camera.  
"Hey, Olive. Come with me. I'll show you something", he lifted her up and took her to the car. He sat her on the back seat then he got Lindsay. She should also come along. "Where are we going?", Olive complained.  
"You´ll see," Connor smiled and the car drove down a street. Left and right the road was lined with green meadows. Then Olive saw what he wanted to show her. "Horses!", she cried enthusiastically and touched the window with both hands. A herd of ponies galloped across the meadow.  
"These ponies belong to the neighbor of the Gallagher family," said Connor.  
"Will we visit the ponies?", Olive was now very excited and Connor nodded. Five minutes later, he parked the car in front of a horse stable and a riding teacher showed Olive a white pony.  
"Thanks," Lindsay said softly to him, "You saved the day."  
He told her that he was glad to help her and a little later they watched how Olive had a riding lesson on the beautiful white Connemara mare, while they sat on the wooden fence and talked about the case. They were engrossed in their conversation, when the wood lath, on which they rested suddenly knuckled under them and they landed unceremoniously on the ground, she half on him. Fortunately it hadn´t rained in the last few days, so the ground was dry, but Lindsay was laughing anyway and noticed too late that she was a little bit too long in his arms.  
Olive had obviously seen what was happening and called for her aunt. Then her riding lesson was over and Olive asked her aunt if she wanted to ride once, because two horses had been saddled for Connor and Lindsay.  
"Connor, I die!", said Lindsay, as she sat in the saddle of a brown pony, laughing, "I'm afraid that I fall down!" Although she was able to ride, she hadn´t sat on a horse for years. They were on the road for an hour, watched the area on horseback. Then they had to go home again. Olive was enthusiastic on the way home and she talked about the ponies and the ride.  
"Olive, what do you actually think about Saundra?", Connor wanted to know during the drive. The girls hadn´t talked much during breakfast, but Shawn was to blame: He threw cornflakes on the girls and Olive couldn´t leave it and threw cornflakes back. Connor was interested in what Olive thought about Saundra, because Saundra seemed to be very shy. That was really no surprise, considering what she had experienced.  
"Saundra says she has a gift," said Olive, "I think her brain is wiring of."  
"Olive!", Lindsay reminded shocked, "Who taught you that words?"  
Connor grinned amused, shaking his head. They reached the mobile laboratory and Peter was waiting for them. "Saundra's blood tests are done," he said, "Anton found residues of Midazolam in her blood."  
"Midazolam?"  
"Yes, this is a sedative that is used in hospitals and ambulant clinics for sedation of patients. It is quite bitter."  
Lindsay raised her eyebrows.  
"Not that I would have tried it," added Peter, "But I have to admit that this is extremely illogical ... If she had actually taken the medicine, she would be more dazed, like Anton said. But she doesn´t. "  
"I'm gonna talk to the family´s attending physician," Connor said seriously, "Lindsay, you ask the parents if Saundra has recently received this medicine and why."

The talks were not positive: the family doctor had never administered Saundra the medicine and the dentist agreed because it turned out that Saundra was terrified of him. David and Alice Gallagher confirmed this: no one had given their daughter the medicine. But why was it in Saundra's bloodstream?  
In the evening, Lindsay thought about it, she sat on the couch and tried to rest. Her legs ached terribly from riding. But it was worth it: She had never seen Olive so happy.  
"I want to go to bed!", Olive said, with a weary sigh Lindsay got up to take the child to bed. Once again, Olive had distracted her. That was not good for her job...  
She covered her with blanked and discovered a plush rabbit sitting on the chair. "Who is that?", asked Lindsay and took a pink plush bunny in her hand.  
"This is Pierre. My favorite stuffed animal." Olive took the rabbit in her arms and turned around.  
"Good night, Olive." Lindsay turned off the light in the room.  
"Good night, Aunt Lindsay."  
Was she mistaken, or had Olive said good night to her? It was almost a miracle. She was happy, but thought about that they had no results until now. They didn´t know if Saundra Gallagher was really kidnapped by aliens.  
Lindsay went to bed tired.

"Hi Olive," Connor said to the girl when he checked the surveillance camera which was placed on the scales of the Gallagher family and filmed the entire house. Connor hoped that could film the spaceship in case if Saundra Gallagher was abducted by aliens. Until now he was unsuccessful.  
"Hallo," said Olive, "I'm worried." Olive actually sounded very worried.  
"Why, what is it?", Connor switched the camera´s memory chip and listened to her.  
"She sometimes speaks of you."  
"Who?"  
"Aunt Lindsay", said Olive, "Sometimes, when she dreams she says your name and has this weird smile on her face. Like my Mom when she smiled to her boyfriend."  
"And how do you know?"  
"I have seen it." Again, Olive was allowed to sleep in bed while Lindsay spent the night on the couch. Unfortunately, Olive couldn´t sleep and so she was sometimes up in the night and watched as her aunt spoke in her sleep. Whether that had to mean something? "Can you explain to me what that means?", asked Olive.  
In the distance Connor saw, how Saundra Gallagher left her parents house. "Olive, go and play a little bit with Saundra," he suggested, Olive did what he said. Had Olive just told him a story? He knew it was wrong, but it interested him, if Lindsay actually spoke of him in her sleep. But he had no time to think about. Finally he had to consider whether the cameras had recorded something and so he went into the house.  
Meanwhile, Olive ran alone on the lawn of the Gallagher family and met her aunt. "Where are you going?"  
"Saundra and I play hide and seek!"  
"Well... Stay away from water, OIive."  
"Okay," Olive said annoyed and walked away. She sat behind a small hedge in a field, staring into the water. Here Saundra couldn´t find her so quickly.  
On the other side of the lake she could see a castle, but from here it looked tiny. She searched for binoculars in the bag she had received by Anthon and as she unpacked it, she heard a sinister voice. She immediately remembered what Connor had told her on her arrival. Supposedly a monster lived in the lake, which could be heard singing at night.  
Olive was curious and went to the boat jetty, where an old fishing boat was anchored and stared into the water. Directly in front of her a black, round head emerged now.  
"A monster! A monster! ", Said Olive and ran away as fast as her short legs allowed it. Suddenly it doesn´t matter she and Saundra were playing hide and seek. She ran to the little shack in which the team´s equipment was stored and she ran through the door. The glass rattled in the frame.  
"I saw a monster!", she said.  
"Do you want to show me?", asked Peter.  
"No," said Olive defiantly and ran out of the room. In the hall she met Connor. "I saw a monster! I've seen it, "she told him and he seemed to be surprised.  
"Do you want to show me?"  
"Yes. Come on! I'll take you to the monster." While Olive ran ahead and Connor followed her, she told the monster had a black head with white spots. Finally they reached the place, where she had seen the monster. "Your Aunt had forbid you to go to the water," recalled Connor, but Olive didn´t listen. She tried to find the monster. Of course she knew it would not stay until she had brought someone, but she was disappointed that it was gone.  
Suddenly, the water gushed. "There!" Olive pointed to a black, round head, which emerged from the depths. They heard a squeak and a mouth full of sharp, yellow teeth opened.  
"This is not a monster," said Connor and climbed down the little slope, until his feet barely reached the water. "Be careful!" Olive was almost in tears.  
Connor reached out his hand to the animal and touched his head. The skin felt rubbery.  
"Watch out! It´s gonna eat you."  
"This is a whale, Olive. They don´t eat people."  
"How does a whale come into this lake?"  
"I do not know," he admitted honestly. The lake had no connection to the sea, only a little river flown into it. Presumably it was once a bay in the Stone Age. Connor could not imagine that a whale survived so long in the lake. "I think we should call someone who is familiar with such animals," suggested Connor and Olive asked him not to stay longer with the whale.  
The whale seemed to have no injuries on his head.  
Connor climbed up the stony slope and then sat down next to Olive. "These whales are normally found only in colder waters," he told her, "But I will find out if this is also one of their distribution areas."

In the evening they met in the main house for dinner. "That smells delicious, Alice," Anton said to her and she thanked him. Alice asked them to guess what it was.  
"It is pork ...", Olive though.  
"No, it´s steak. The flesh is soft."  
"Perfect for people without teeth."  
Lindsay looked to her niece in horror, but since this brain wiring- story nothing surprised her anymore. They started eating and Alice had surpassed herself with her meal again. Even Olive and the red-haired Gallagher twins were friendly and made no war with the peas or bread slices.  
"What can we do in the evenings?", Peter suddenly wanted to know from David.  
"It would be difficult. Out here is nothing. The next place on the map is Naas. But there is not much going on."  
"How far is it to Dublin?"  
"Bit more than 40 miles ... If you like to travel far for a beer, that's your problem. But near the Racecourse in Punchestown is the Punchestown Menhir. Ireland´s largest standing stone."  
Connor was disappointed. He had hoped he could do something with Lindsay and Olive, but he would have been delighted, too, if he could only spend a little time with Lindsay alone. There was almost nothing in the area, which was worth seeing. Olive wasn´t in the mood to watch a Menhir for sure.  
"But if you want, you can come with me tonight. As you have seen, I have a boat and we can go fishing." David pointed out the window and to the ship which was anchored at the end of the pier.  
"You go fishing at night?" Peter was surprised and shocked at the same time.  
"Yes, the fishes are more active at night than during the day. The sun is almost setting, so we have to go."  
"Sounds very interesting," said Anton and they all got up, "Connor, what about you? You should come with us."  
"No, thank you. I'm staying."

David's wife took care of the dishes after dinner and Lindsay brought Olive to bed. The rest of the team was with David for fishing. Olive told her, she and Connor had seen a monster today and that it had huge teeth. "I don´t want to go to bed," Olive complained, "I want to say Good night to Connor." Olive cried and she didn´t stop. So, Lindsay decided to give up. She helped Olive in her jacket, lifted her up and took her to the shack in which Connor lived. She knocked on the door. "Hi," she said to him, "I hope we don´t disturb, but Olive wanted to say good night to you."  
"No, you don´t disturb me. Come in. "  
Lindsay walked in with the child in her arms and found that Connor had spread some documents on the table. He was working and hadn´t told the truth to her.  
"Hey, Olive. We're here. Come on, say good night", said Lindsay to her niece and found out she had fallen asleep on her arm. Tired, Olive had thrown her arms around the neck of her aunt. "Oh no, she´s so heavy," said Lindsay and Connor took Olive in his arms. He brought her in the small room next door, where Olive could sleep.  
"Take a seat", he said to Lindsay when he returned. Gratefully she sat on the couch, complaining, and laughing about the fact that Olive was so heavy. He sat down beside her and she rubbed her aching arms.  
"You cannot imagine how stressful it is to take care for Olive. I never thought it would be so difficult to care for a child, "she admitted. With that, she doesn´t want to say that she won´t have own kids some day.  
"Olive is quite lively."  
"Yes, she is ... What about you? Looks like you had work to do", she noted, asking interested what occupied him yet.  
"Only a few unimportant things about the lake..."  
"How do you like Ireland?"  
"Very. But I would be happy about a job in Scotland, too. Loch Ness would be great. Then we could find out if Nessi is real." He laughed, looked at her and she knew it was just a joke.  
"Olive has told me she saw a monster today," said Lindsay.  
"It was not a monster, it was a whale. It is a mystery to me how he came into the lake, but the animal welfare says, they do everything as possible to bring it back into the ocean ... Olive was so afraid of the whale."  
"Well, she has never seen one before, but she wouldn´t come with you, if she doesn´t trust you ... Olive likes you very much,", noted Lindsay.  
"I´ve noticed. I like Olive very much, too."  
The fire in the fireplace conjured a mysterious glint in her eyes. Again and again he had to think of what Olive had told him: She heard Lindsay saying his name sometimes in sleep and how happy she looked then. He raised his hand and petted her cheek as if by chance. Lindsay looked at him and Connor decided to do it, he stretched out for her to kiss her. Their first kiss was a careful touch and tasted so sweet and irresistible that they both wanted a lot more of it. Connor drew her closer to him and by the fact she didn´t pushed him away but returned his kiss passionately, he was confirmed even more. With his thumb he stroked her pulse tenderly and found out how fast her heart beat. It was true: he got her feelings messed up. She threw her arms around him and opened her mouth for another kiss, when she suddenly heard Olive's voice in the next room. "She's awake," Lindsay said with disappointment, "I'd better bring in her own bed." With these words she got up, picked Olive out of the room and said goodbye to him.

After breakfast, Lindsay helped Alice with the dishes, while Olive wanted to go to the lake to see if the animal welfare had already picked up the whale. Anton promised to keep an eye on her and to accompany her. Strange was that Connor had not appeared at breakfast. But Alice excused him: "He and Peter wanted to go walking."  
Lindsay did not understand how Alice had come to this subject and how she had guessed her thoughts. Then she decided it was not important. She thought it was a coincidence.  
"How is Saundra?", asked Lindsay, "Has she seen the strange lights again?"  
"No," said Alice and filled the sink with water, "David knows my opinion: I think this alien story is a mastermind of Saundra. But of course, David thinks completely different. Since Olive showed up and she has someone to play with, the alien light phenomena disappeared from earth."  
"Olive is a very nice girl, but also very tiring... I hope I´ll find good adoptive parents for her."  
"You want to give her up for adoption?", asked Alice.  
"Through my job, I am unfortunately traveling a lot and have no time for children."  
"This is a shame," Alice put away some dishes, "You and your colleague would be a great couple. You were great parents for Olive."  
First Lindsay didn´t know what she meant. "He said something to you?", she wanted to know and Alice laughed. "No," she shook her head, "But it's pretty clear. It´s the way how you two look at each other. At least in this point David is the same opinion."  
Lindsay asked herself, who knew about it. It seemed everyone else knew that Lindsay and Connor had obviously feelings for each other. Only they both were so blind that they don´ t even notice it. Oh, she had to talk to Connor urgently when she met him again.  
"Well, I have to go. I still have... some things to do." Lindsay went out and breathed in relief. She made her way to the cabin where she and Olive lived and she met Connor.  
"Hi," she said. Immediately, she had to remember of what had happened last night in his shack. She had no idea if this intoxicating kiss would be any longer between them.  
"Hi, Lindsay. How are you?  
"Fine ... And you? I wanted to talk to you about ..."  
"I wanted to talk to you, too. But not here. How about tonight? You and Olive can come over."  
"Um ... Tonight? Does that mean we have ...?"  
"A date? Well, you don´t have to come. It is not a binding thing", Connor said with a shrug.  
"We would like to come."

_You're only just a dream boat _  
_Sailing in my head _  
_You swim my secret oceans _  
_Of coral blue and red _  
_Your smell is incense burning _  
_Your touch is silken yet _  
_It reaches through my skin _  
_Moving from within _  
_And clutches at my breast _

_But it's only when I sleep _  
_See you in my dreams _  
_Got me spinning round and round _  
_Turning upside down _  
_But I only hear you breathe _  
_Somewhere in my sleep _  
_Got me spinning round and round _  
_Turning upside down _  
_But it's only when I sleep _ ("It's Only When I Sleep" by The Corrs)

Throughout the day, Lindsay was nervous and it seemed the hours passed not at all. Finally, it was evening and she wanted to leave with Olive but the girl wasn´t in the mood to come with her. Lindsay didn´t know if that was good or bad. Should she go without Olive? What would happen then?... Would she prefer it, if she came with her? Then she covered Olive with a blanket and said goodbye to her. "Are you cherishing Connor?", Olive wanted to know from her aunt as she turned off the light, "I believe, he likes you very much. "  
"Why are you trying to pair me with Connor?"  
"This is not true! I only found out that he likes you very much. And you get nervous when you're near him." Olive was thinking if she should say something more but she decided to spare her aunt the "Go and find a man before you´re too old"- thing. After all, her own mother had always been terribly upset about it, when grandma said this to her.  
"Good night, OIive," said Lindsay, closed the door behind her and walked through her living room. Should she go, or not? Then she caught herself how she was on the road to him alone. She knocked on the door and he was amazed that she came alone. "Olive was tired," she told him.  
"Come in." He stepped aside and she entered the shack where he lived.  
"About what did you want to talk to me so badly?", she asked as she sat down.  
"You first wanted to talk to me," he replied and offered her something to drink.  
"It's about ...", Lindsay was nervous when he sat beside her on the couch, "what happened yesterday."  
"This monster story?"  
"No, I didn´t mean. I mean ...", she managed not to talk to him about it. She thought she'd better talk about the case and change the subject. Desperate, she wondered how she came out of this thing. She should not have come here, she thought.  
"Is everything all right?", asked Connor. He had noticed she was restless and how she constantly held her neck.  
"I sleep on the couch at night," she told him and was glad she had found an excuse for her strange behavior, "My back hurts. In addition, our little pony ride a few days ago has not contributed to my physical well-being." She didn´t want to say that wasn´t fun for her.  
"Then I massage you." Before she knew what was happening, he pushed her hair from her neck, put his hands on her shoulders and began to massage her gently. For a moment she felt dizzy and wished he would never stop. She could barely suppress a comforting sound. Connor should better stay away from her, because otherwise she couldn´t guarantee anything more. She didn´t know what she wanted. Lindsay smiled. But what if he did not return her feelings? "What nonsense!," Lindsay thought, "If it is like that, he wouldn´t have kissed you yesterday." She nodded approvingly to herself and of course he had noticed. "To who have you just agreed?", he asked.  
"To no one. We're alone, or do you hide someone?" She smiled and relaxed more and more under his touch.  
"No."  
She thought that was a fortune. Because then she could kiss him undisturbed, and ... Oh God, she shouldn´t have such thoughts about him.  
"My God ..." she said to herself, too late she realized she had said this out loud.  
Connor raised his brows in confusion. "What?"  
"I should go. I'm sorry if I disturbed you." She smiled at him apologetically, but he held her, leaned over to her and kissed her deeply and passionately. It was a short kiss and he wanted to know how she reacted.  
"Wow," she said and Connor wanted to have her in his arms. The seconds, in which he didn´t held her caused pain in him. His kiss was more intimate and Lindsay was now relieved she hadn´t brought Olive along. At least she had not explain to her why she and Connor descend on each other.  
An hour later, they were arm in arm on the couch and kept each other warm. Lindsay giggled softly as he told her he had an idea how he could impress her: "I have learned Irish a little bit."  
"You want to impress me with it?", she asked, chuckling, "You know, this only works with my parents. And they're both already dead. If this isn´t so, you had to listen to my father that you get mighty anger when you break his daughter's heart."  
"This will not happen", Connor looked at her and said something to her in Irish. Then she smiled: "You have just said, I've eaten a shoe ."  
"Oh no!", he put his hands to his face.  
"Never mind," she laughed, hugged him and kissed his neck. Goose bumps ran over his body. "Hmmm ... That feels good," he mumbled and tried to reach out for her but then the room was bathed in red light for a moment. He looked up and saw a red light outside. It flitted in the middle of the lake and stayed there.  
"Let´s see what it is," suggested Connor. "Yes, we have to," agreed Lindsay.

At the same time Olive awakened, she had seen the light, too, and had watched as it flew over the lake. Her aunt had not returned yet, so she decided to go to the red light. After all, there had to be a reason why Saundra feared the light. She walked alone through the forest which separated the lake from the Gallagher´s house. Then she noticed two other people were on their way to the lake and she hid behind a thick tree. The two people were her aunt and Connor. Here she was!  
Olive heard them talking: They spoke about the case, about Saundra and about Olive.  
"If this case is closed, I'll take a little timeout," said Lindsay, "There´s much to do."  
"You want to move?", he asked her, "You probably need a larger apartment when Olive is living with you. If you want, I'll help you."  
"Thanks, that's very sweet of you. But she cannot stay with me. I called Mr. Eisenberg again. He should look for a nice family for Olive."  
"You want to give her up for adoption?"  
"It´s not easy for me," admitted Lindsay, "but it's best for her. She cannot always travel around the world with me. Finally, she must go to school next year. She cannot if she´s never home."  
Connor nodded disappointed. But Lindsay was Olive's aunt. She knew what was best for her. And she was right, that Olive couldn´t go to school when she was always traveling with her. "In addition, Olive hates me," Lindsay said and Connor was surprised. He could not imagine that this should be true. Everything about Lindsay was adorable.  
"I saw it in her eyes in that moment, in which she stood in front of my door with the lawyer," continued Lindsay, "So I think it is better when she´d leave."  
When Olive in her hiding place heard that, she felt as if someone had beaten her in the face. Her aunt hated her and wanted to give her away! She was in tears and decided she couldn´t listen to the conversation any longer. She crept back to the shack in which they lived.  
"Olive loves you, "Connor said and stopped, "And I do it, too."  
She was taken by surprise. Until now Lindsay was sure, she would make this confession some day. And lately she had been thinking about it very often. He loved her! Just the thought of it made her dizzy and this wonderful feeling she had on their first kiss returned. Connor took her hand and hugged her. She returned the gesture before she closed delighted her eyes and enjoyed his kiss.  
"The truth is," he began in a pause, "That I cannot imagine you without Olive. You belong together. If you want I'll help you."  
"How ...?"  
"We´ll find a solution. But you shouldn´t do things that make you unhappy."  
"Why do you want to help me?" ,she asked.  
"I love you, remember?"  
"Connor, I love ... ", she smiled and suddenly this red, bright light appeared in front of them. Her pulse began to race and she was suddenly cold. Saundra Gallagher had told the truth...!

Lindsay woke up and a cry escaped her. Then she realized she was in Connor's bed. Alone and completely dressed. She still wore the jacket she had worn yesterday in the woods. For a moment she wondered if she only had dreamed of this terrifying scene in the forest, as Connor was concerned beside her.  
"Connor?", she asked, "Why we are here ...?" The last thing she remembered was how this bright, shining light appeared in front of them.  
"I do not know." He looked very worried. He also had no idea how they get here. "How do you feel?"  
"Fine," she said, "The back pain is gone," she smiled at him, "But that's probably because I spent a night in a real bed."  
"Very nice. Let's look after Olive? "He proposed to discuss the emergence of light with the team later.  
Lindsay nodded. This was a very good idea. So they set off together to pick up Olive for breakfast. They entered the small shack in which Lindsay and Olive lived and Lindsay looked in the bedroom for Olive. There she had brought her to bed last night. Connor was left alone in the tidy living room to wait for them. Lindsay was not even half a minute away when she came back and looked at him in panic. Tears welled in her eyes. "Olive ran away."  
"Are you sure?", He immediately came to her.  
"She has packed her things ... and her favorite stuffed animal," Lindsay was crying and walked nervously up and down. "What, if she's been kidnapped by...", She couldn´t imagine that. This idea was so terrible, she just could not think over it. But what if OIive was truly kidnapped by these weird lights?  
"I have no idea where she is. I ... I can´t even handle my niece!"  
"This is not true," Connor tried to calm her. But it did not work: She was crying even more.  
"Do you remember how quiet she was, when we arrived here? She hasn´t spoke a word with us and she didn´t trust in us."  
"The idea with the ponies was not mine ..."  
"But she has changed so much. Everything was your merit."  
"Really?"  
"Yes." Relieved, he found that she had stopped walking through the living area. He took her hand and pulled her into his arms. Comforting he pressed her to him. For a moment she wasn´t worry about Olive, but was focused on him. "I'm sure Olive is fine and she just run away. Let´s search for her", he suggested.  
"Okay," she nodded approvingly.

"Olive?", Lindsay called and again tears came into her eyes. They searched for the girl all day long and six hours ago Peter and Anton had informed the local police.  
"Don´t worry," Connor took her hand, pressed it firmly and walked beside her. They searched in the forest with flashlights, Anton and Peter searched on the streets and bus stops. Although Olive was only five years old, she was determined not stupid. She was a clever girl. The Gallaghers were at home in case that Olive reappeared. By now it was night again, it was pitch dark and freezing cold and Lindsay was hoping that Olive was fine. What, if she had been abducted by someone? She couldn´t even think about it! This incident encouraged her more and more she was the wrong person, who should take care of Olive. Because of Olive's disappearance the Gallager-case was also forgotten and...  
Lindsay stopped and sank to her knees and cried desperately. Connor hugged her and tried to calm her. Even now she only thought of her work and she hated herself more than ever for it.  
Meanwhile, Saundra looked anxiously out of the window, while her father sat in his chair, reading a newspaper. Her mother had just gone to the basement to do the laundry. "Daddy, what if they don´t find Olive?", she asked.  
"Olive just ran away."  
"Why should she do that? What if, she's kidnapped by THEM?"  
"I don´t believe that."  
Alice in the basement began to call for her daughter. First the screams were silent, then they became louder and louder. "Saundra!", Alice shouted and pounding like crazy against the door which led to the laundry room. Her family in the living room heard this very quietly.  
David sat in the living room and heard Alice screaming, too.  
"Now, go to your mother," he said to Saundra, "She has probably locked herself in the laundry room, otherwise she would not cry that way."  
Saundra wasn´t in the mood for going to the laundry room, but her mother couldn´t stay there forever. On the way to the basement she heard her mother´s screams loud and clear, when suddenly this strange feeling came over her, like every night when... Saundra ran faster and suddenly the screams were silenced. Panicked she opened the iron door to the laundry room. The room was empty. The basket, which her mother had carried was standing, still fully loaded on the floor. And the washing machine disappeared.  
"Daddy!", Saundra howled desperately and ran to her father in the living room.  
"I know, I've seen it too!", said David Gallagher, alerted, and rushed into the kitchen next door, where Shawn was sitting at the table and painted. The boy was also disappeared. His painting materials were alone on the kitchen table.

Connor and Lindsay now reached a road and in some distance they saw four cars with blue and red sirens approaching. Three cars raced past them, the fourth stopped next to them and a policeman got out. "Are you with the OSIR?", asked the policeman and Connor introduced himself and Lindsay, "You post a five year old girl as missing this morning."  
"Did you find her?", It came from Lindsay.  
"No, sorry, Miss. But one of the Gallagher children and Mrs. Gallagher were also posted as missing. We just go there."  
"What?" Lindsay was devastated when she heard this, "Can we drive back with you?"  
The policeman told them they should enter the car. They drove on without sirens and would need about ten minutes, because now they were fifteen miles away from the Gallagher´s house. "Hey, is there ... Stop the car!", Lindsay said suddenly. She believed she saw something in the ditch. The officer slowed the car and Connor and Lindsay got out. She had not been wrong: In fact, it was Olive, who was sitting in the ditch and hiding from passing cars. "Olive!", said Lindsay admonished for her and helped her out of the ditch, "I thought you'd been kidnapped!"  
The little girl pulled away from her and wept. "I don´t come back home with you! I hate you!"  
"Olive ..."  
"You send me away. I've heard, how you said to Connor, you send me away and you're happy when I'm gone!"  
"It wasn´t meant that way," said Lindsay and wanted to hug Olive, but she turned away stubborn.  
"I hate you! I HATE you!" Olive highlighted the word unnecessarily. She was crying terribly, clinging to her stuffed rabbit.  
"Olive, listen," Connor began quietly, "She said a few things she shouldn´t have said..."  
"I hate her anyway and I never come back home!", cried Olive, who had figured out long ago Connor had the same opinion.  
"I think your aunt just wants the best for you. She wants you to live in a family that offers you a safe home, where you can go to school. She doesn´t hate you. Quiet the contrary. She loves you so much that she sends you to another family where you feel better and she´s gonna miss you terribly."  
"That's not true!", continued Olive, howling.  
"Olive, you have to come with us," said Lindsay.  
"No! I won´t!"  
"Olive, we now have a real problem: Alice and one of her children have been abducted. Possibly by..."  
"My God, look!", Said the policeman alerted and looked to the sky. Connor and Lindsay saw two red lights which danced in the sky and then it flew towards the north. Olive put her arms around Connor and he picked her up. "Did you change your mind?", he asked and she nodded. "Yes," Olive gave in, "I'm sorry that I ran away." She leaned over to Lindsay and hugged her. For a moment she had forgotten the lights in the sky, but then one of the spaceships appeared directly above them...

"Where is the police?", David complained and walked worried through the living room. It couldn´t take so much time to drive from Naas till here! Saundra was excited in her chair and stared at her father. "What will they do now to your mother and your brother, Saundra?," asked David.  
"I don´t know ... Probably they are analyzing them." So, as Saundra was analyzed every night. In the beginning, Saundra had thought the alien abductions had been dreams, but when she woke up one morning and saw this weird cut on her knee, she knew there were no dreams. And she had no idea what she could do to stop the kidnappings night after night. Every time she wanted to run away from them, but she was always paralyzed and she could not. Once, the aliens had let her run away: Saundra had run into her parent´s bedroom and tried to wake them up in tears. But she found that her parents could not wake up because the alien´s didn't want it.  
"Saundra, I ...", her father began and suddenly the whole house was in a eerie red light. The ground vibrated and Saundra got up from her chair and ran to her father. The red light was thirty seconds, then it was gone and Saundra could hear her mother crying in the basement.  
Saundra immediately ran down to the basement to see if it was true. She opened the iron door and her mother stood in front of her. Alice hugged Saundra. She apologized she didn´t believe her.  
Her brother was back, too. He sat on the missing washing machine and stared at her. "Are you all right?", Saundra wanted to know and he nodded. Saundra then looked out of the window and saw a spacecraft, that flew by in a glistening red light and she wondered for a moment whether she should hide. "Mommy, what have they done to you?", asked Saundra.  
Alice reported she could not remember, but she had hopefully told them, they should leave her family alone.

Connor stared up to the spaceship that was hovering over their heads. What are they planning now? An UFO was hovering over them, finally, not without a reason...  
Olive still hugged Lindsay firmly and she realized she probably would have to apologize what she had said about Saundra. Saundra definitely had no wiring brain!  
Over them many colored lights gleamed. "Connor," Lindsay said suddenly, "I cannot move."  
"I know. I can´t move, too", he realized what they were planning. Connor tried to move, but he couldn´t. Every movement attempts caused pain. Presumably they needed more lab rats, which they could examine and dissect. The policeman, who had come with them, could do nothing for them as well: He could not move, too. Connor had better things in his mind than becoming the test object for some aliens. He tried to move on and on and suddenly a strong shock wave shot down from above. The red light disappeared and Connor was thrown across the road.  
"Connor!", Lindsay exclaimed frightened and ran to him even with Olive in her arms. He lay on the street and did not move. So she called his name again.  
"My head," he muttered, as he awoke and Lindsay let out a relieved breath, "What had...? Where are they?"  
Lindsay, Connor and Olive looked to the sky. The spacecraft vanished without a trace. In the sky, only the stars twinkled. "Don´t worry, they're gone," said Lindsay and examined his head. He wasn´t bleeding, but he still had bad headaches. Lindsay believed it was because of the downfall. She and Olive helped him to get up and noticed how the police officer had already put down a radio message in his car to the department.  
"You should see a doctor," suggested Lindsay and Connor said his headache wasn´t so badly. Together they walked across the dark street. Suddenly, a car slowed in front of them and Anton and Peter got out. "Are you guys completely crazy?", grumbled Peter, who was driving the car, "I had almost run over you!... But now we have found you", Peter noted in passing that they had fortunately found Olive, "We were with the police, because of Olive ... "  
"Then we met the former child doctor of the Gallagher family", Anton added, "Did you know that Saundra suffers from a neurological syndrome, which makes it impossible to distinguish important information from unimportant?"  
"Anton, come to the point! ", Connor asked, rubbing his aching head.  
"There are no spaceships."  
Connor, Lindsay and Olive were sure they had just misheard. No spaceships, what nonsense! They had just seen one!  
"Saundra Gallagher is sick," Anton added, "I have informed the headquarter and I got the message we should come back again ... Tell me what happened to you, Connor? You look terrible."  
Connor didn´t believe what Anton had said. Saundra Gallagher told the truth from the beginning: she was a kidnapping victim. Now they didn´t t even know what made the kid so special she was kidnapped because the team was sent back home. Connor and Lindsay finally agreed they would keep this story as a secret. And they would keep in touch with the Gallaghers.

Christmas

Lindsay was almost done the food. She washed her hands and looked to Olive, who was sitting in the living room of their new home in front of the big Christmas tree.  
"When comes Connor finally home?", asked Olive.  
"I don´t know," admitted Lindsay. Since their return from Ireland, many things had changed: They both worked only in the office because they would miss Olive terribly on their travels and Connor didn´t want to call Lindsay every day and tell her how much he missed her and how much he wanted to be with her and that he almost died in longing for her.  
Lindsay had postponed the move to a new apartment. Connor asked her for that. Until in October he had surprised her with this charming apartment with terrace. He told her he wanted to move anyway and he had thought of her and Olive. With that he asked her if they wanted to move in together. Olive had a room and they had even more space if they need it one day. "Don´t you think that goes a little too fast?", asked Lindsay (her answer was already "Yes") and Connor shook his head. "You should be with the man you love. And this is me", he told her, and when it should not work, she could move out at any time. "It is not a binding thing," he said with a shrug. This non-binding thing worked very well, she had to admit and they took it very seriously. She liked this future planning- thing with him...  
The door opened and Connor went into the apartment with a big gift in his arms. "Olive?", He cried the little girl, "I've got something for you!"  
She ran to him and he handed her the package. "Don´t run to fast, right?"  
The package was almost bigger than Olive and she suspected it had to be a pretty nice gift.  
"Say Thanks for your Christmas present," Lindsay said and Olive rushed out of the living room with a loud "Thank you", her gift in her hands.  
"Your welcome!", said Connor and threw his arms around Lindsay. "Hi, honey. What about you?", he asked softly, "Do you want your gift?"  
"I'm patient," she said, "Not so impatient, like Olive ... I can wait." She laughed and put the dinner in the oven. She already knew what he would give her. Even she had told him repeatedly he hadn´t to do that. Next year, before Olive went to school, they wanted travel to Ireland together again and Connor invited them. They wanted to stay in Dublin a few days, wanted to see the cliff and travel through the country.  
They went into the living room and at the doorway Connor suddenly stopped, pressed her to him and kissed her stormy. "A mistletoe," he said with a grin on his face. She had not even noticed he had hang up the plant, but if he would kiss her always like that the mistletoe could stay forever on the branch of the door ...  
"Connor, what's in the package?", Lindsay asked suddenly.  
"Aunt Lindsay, look!", Olive cried excited and jumped into the room. In her hands she held a turtle. Now she knew what was in the package: a terrarium and its inhabitants.  
"This is Tom," Connor said to them.  
"Tom, the turtle," came from Lindsay and she smiled, "Well, it fits..."  
Olive sat Tom on the floor and tried to lure him with a leaf of salad. With very slow steps, the turtle went up to her and opened his mouth as far as he could. Olive laughed at Tom's inertia and let him eat the salad. Then she asked when they would have dinner. The food smelled right now, but unfortunately not very good. Probably this was another of her new recipes.  
"Olive, do you think your aunt wants to poison us?", asked Connor.  
"Yes," replied Olive and lifted Tom up.  
"You two are so mean." Lindsay found the two were sometimes really terrible. But basically she loved them. And she couldn´t imagine a life without them.

_Its Christmas Eve babe _  
_In the drunk tank _  
_An old man said to me, will not see another one _  
_And then he sang a song _  
_The Rare Old Mountain Dew _  
_And I turned my face away _  
_And dreamed about you _

_Got on a lucky one _  
_Came in eighteen to one _  
_I've got a feeling _  
_This year's for me and you _  
_So happy Christmas _  
_I love you baby _  
_I can see a better time _  
_When all our dreams come true _

_They've got cars _  
_Big as bars _  
_They've got rivers of gold _  
_But the wind goes right through you _  
_It's no place for the old _

_When you first took my hand _  
_On a cold Christmas Eve _  
_You promised me _  
_Broadway was waiting for me _

_You were handsome _  
_You were pretty _  
_Queen of New York City _  
_When the band finished playing _  
_They howled out for more _  
_Sinatra was swinging _  
_All the drunks they were singing _  
_We kissed on the corner _  
_Then danced through the night _

_The boys of the NYPD choir _  
_Were singing 'Galway Bay' _  
_And the bells were ringing _  
_Out for Christmas day _ ("Fairytale of New York" by Ronan Keating)


End file.
